ve, or fervor of devotion in these
persons?

I do not observe that the ancient fathers of the desert, who were so
spiritual, so fervent, and so great in prayer, experienced similar
ecstasies. These risings up in the air are more common among our new
saints, as we may see in the Life[230] of St. Philip of Neri, where
they relate his ecstasies and his elevations from earth into the air,
sometimes to the height of several yards, and almost to the ceiling of
his room, and this quite involuntarily. He tried in vain to hide it
from the knowledge of those present, for fear of attracting their
admiration, and feeling in it some vain complacency. The writers who
give us these particulars do not say what was the cause, whether these
ecstatic elevations from the ground were produced by the fervor of the
Holy Spirit, or by the ministry of good angels, or by a miraculous
favor of God, who desired thus to do honor to his servants in the eyes
of men. God had moreover favored the same St. Philip de Neri, by
permitting him to see the celestial spirits and even the demons, and
to discover the state of holy spirits, by supernatural knowledge.

St. John Columbino, teacher of the Jesuits, made use of St. Catherine
Columbine,[231] a maiden of extraordinary virtue, for the
establishment of nuns of his order. It is related of her, that
sometimes she remained in a trance, and raised up two yards from the
ground, motionless, speechless, and insensible.

The same thing is said of St. Ignatius de Loyola,[232] who remained
entranced by God, and raised up from the ground to the height of two
feet, while his body shone like light. He has been seen to remain in
a trance insensible, and almost without respiration, for eight days
together.

St. Robert de Palentin[233] rose also from the ground, sometimes to
the height of a foot and a half, to the great astonishment of his
disciples and assistants. We see similar trances and elevations in the
Life of St. Bernard Ptolomei, teacher of the congregation of Notre
Dame of Mount Olivet;[234] of St. Philip Benitas, of the order of
Servites; of St. Cajetanus, founder of the Theatins;[235] of St.
Albert of Sicily, confessor, who, during his prayers, rose three
cubits from the ground; and lastly of St. Dominic, the founder of the
order of Preaching Brothers.[236]

It is related of St. Christina,[237] Virgin at S. Tron, that being
considered dead, and carried into the church in her coffin, as they
were perfor